


empty calories

by aspartaeme



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Boys In Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 17:35:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21149561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aspartaeme/pseuds/aspartaeme
Summary: ‘She's mymom, Billy. I'mallowedto call her a bitch,’ Steve grits out, looking exceptionally murderous for an otherwise innocuous Sunday evening.Billy - doesn't think that's entirely true. Like. Sure. His dad’s an absolute asshole, and Billy has never been particularly silent about it, toanyone, but like. His dad also kinda beats the shit outta him for fun, so.Not the best parental example.





	empty calories

**Author's Note:**

> i've been listening to beach bunny A Lot lately and painkiller is _some_ kind of vibe, so

‘I've heard that anger is like. The _worst_ emotion to hold on to.’ 

Silence. 

A breath. ‘Well. I kinda have some personal experience with it as well.’ 

‘Fuck off.’ 

Ouch. 

‘Yeah, like. They say if you're angry, you're supposed to like. Force yourself to laugh, or something. Supposed to help you forget what you were angry about, or whatever.’ 

‘Billy, seriously, just shut the fuck up.’ 

_Well_. This is going better than expected. At least Billy's getting verbal responses. 

He grows confident. ‘Stevie, come on. It's not the end of the world.’ 

Steve makes the face universally acknowledged as the stepped-on-gum mask of disgust. That was clearly the wrong thing to say. So much for baby steps. 

‘You called my mom a _bitch_, Hargrove. To her face.’ 

Hargrove. _Ouch_. 

‘You. Call her a bitch _all the time_?’ 

Steve looks as affronted as Billy guesses _he_ does by the words that seem to be escaping unfiltered. 

‘She's my _mom_, Billy. I'm _allowed_ to call her a bitch,’ Steve grits out, looking exceptionally murderous for an otherwise innocuous Sunday evening. 

Billy - doesn't think that's entirely true. Like. Sure. His dad’s an absolute asshole, and Billy has never been particularly silent about it, to _anyone_, but like. His dad also kinda beats the shit outta him for fun, so. 

Not the best parental example. 

He _really_ doesn't think kids _generally_ call their mom _a bitch with a fucking superiority complex_. 

Still. Billy's spent the last half year of his life fucking Steve in his parents’ house, and then at the place they now have, and hearing him bitch about his parents, and then fucking him on every surface Steve deemed would drive them crazy if they knew, and then fucking him some more, just because. 

Steve has a _really_ nice ass. And a _really_ nice dick. And he also maybe has the most beautiful eyes Billy's ever seen. 

Billy is maybe a little bit in love. Whatever. 

Point is, he's already spent _months_ enduring Steve's bitching and whining and pouting, most of which was directed at his parents, but Steve's parents are never home, and they _definitely_ don't care about anything Steve has to say about them when they are, so Steve's pouts end up being thrown around whoever happens to just _be there_, and that person is almost always _Billy_, nowadays, and. 

And Billy's kind of in love, which he's never going to admit out loud, _ever_, because he's not some bitch with a heart boner for Harrington, and he's absolutely _not_ susceptible to Steve's big stupid eyes, but he still ends up having dinner with Steve's parents on what could’ve potentially been a perfect Sunday afternoon, bending Steve over the laundry machine, and then over the kitchen counter, and then maybe, if they weren't completely drained, blowing Steve in the shower as well. Like, by Billy's definition, that would’ve been a _really_ good use of his Sunday. 

But the thing is - Steve has a special kind of whining tone he drips in his voice when he wants something _really really_ bad, and Billy's threshold for putting up before giving in is like. Three seconds, maybe. 

Which is what brought them here in the first place. 

Like. Billy is _not_ the guy you bring home to your snobbish, super-upper-class parents. 

He's not the guy you bring home to _anyone_. 

It _really_ shouldn't have been a surprise he couldn't keep his plebeian, lower-class mouth shut. 

‘Stevie, it's really not that big a deal,’ he tries, carefully. Harrington can be _terrifying_ when he’s in the process of holding a grudge. ‘You can't have _seriously_ expected them to welcome me into their home anyway.’ 

‘Well, calling my mom a bitch _certainly_ didn't help.’ 

‘Why do you care about their opinion in the first place? You're the one who's always complaining about how _vain_ they are. I wouldn't give a shit what _my_ mom thought of you.’ He mutters that last part, kinda hoping Steve doesn't hear him. Bringing a woman who abandoned her child into this conversation seems a bit dramatic, even by Billy's standards. 

Steve _obviously_ hears everything. Steve _always_ hears everything when they're fighting. Stowing material away for later. He's petty like that. 

‘Your mom didn't even care enough to _stay_, Billy. Why _would_ you care about her opinion on _anything_?’ 

And like, _ouch_, but also. Steve, wild and ferocious and _angry_, in the middle of their fight, it. _Does_ things to Billy. He would suffer through all the hurtful words _in the world_ if it meant seeing that wildfire that Steve becomes when he's in this state. 

Steve though. He looks _mortified_. Like he just snapped out of whatever rage trance he was in and was hit by the amount of _venom_ his words carried. 

And Billy _knows_ this. He knows Steve's go-to coping mechanism when he wakes up after _this_, after hurting Billy, after _aiming_ to hurt, is to flee, and Billy tries to make a move for him, stop him from getting to his keys, or his shoes, or the stupid _door_, but. 

Steve's gone before he can hear Billy’s voice calling his name, echoing through their stupid, empty, _Steveless_ apartment. 

_Fuck_. 

— 

Steve comes back holding a box from that bakery just outside of town, the one that makes the best blueberry and white chocolate muffins Billy’s ever tasted, the one that’s just slightly outside their working-class budget, and he’s also wearing the guiltiest expression Billy’s ever seen him in. 

Billy - kinda wants to laugh. 

He finds himself on unsure footing here. Doesn’t really know how to deal with _both_ of them fucking up. 

And he’s like. Not even sure _why_ they fucked up. 

He’s pretty sure calling Steve’s mom a bitch has _something_ to do with _his_ part of fucking up, and he knows what _Steve’s_ feeling guilty for, but. In Billy’s mind - _none_ of that matters? Like, Billy would much rather spend the rest of his Sunday making up for all the lost hours, maybe getting to come riding Steve’s dick at least twice, but. 

‘I shouldn’t have said that.’ 

Okay. They’re doing this. 

‘No, you shouldn’t have, but - ’ he flounders, searching for the right thing to say so this can be over and he can finally suck Steve's dick. ‘Stevie, c’mon. You really think talking shit about my mom, whom I haven’t seen for the last, like, _ten years of my life_, is actually gonna hurt?’ 

Steve doesn’t look even _remotely_ close to being appeased. He keeps worrying his lip in his mouth. Billy’s mind conjures up approximately seven different memories of Steve’s lips doing Very Important Stuff, remembers they’re in the middle of a fight, or the aftermath of it, and it’s probably an extremely inappropriate time to, like, get a boner, so. 

He pushes the memories back for later. In case Steve decides to not let Billy have the real thing. 

‘Still,’ Steve mutters. ‘It was a mean thing to say and I - I don’t even know where it _came_ from.’ 

‘You were angry. At me,’ Billy helpfully supplies, ‘for what happened over dinner. It’s normal to say shit you don’t mean when you’re angry.’ 

He has firsthand experience with that last part. Like. _A lot_ of it. 

Steve throws him an annoyed look. A definite improvement of the defeat he was wearing a moment ago. 

Billy is maybe a little bit more in love with him than he thought. 

‘Jesus, I almost forgot about that,’ Steve drawls, something like mischief in his voice. ‘Billy, fuck, _why_ would you go and _say_ that?’ 

‘You mean calling your mom a bitch?’ Billy flashes him a grin, wide and stubborn and _proud_. 

Steve winces. He also, maybe, kinda, smiles just a little bit. ‘Yeah,’ he says, ‘_that_.’ 

Billy shrugs. ‘She was being one.’ 

‘She’s _always_ being a bitch, Billy.’ 

‘She was being a _particular_ kind of bitch. She was being a bitch _to you_.’ 

Steve looks at him, smiling softly, like what Billy’s just said _means_ something. Takes a step closer. Drags his nails down Billy’s arm. ‘I want her to _like_ you, Billy. Calling her names every time she’s being some form of evil reincarnated to me is going to be, like, _so_ counterproductive.’ 

Billy’s kinda turned on by Steve using _that_ many big words in _one_ sentence, but also, ‘_Why_? _Why_ do you need me and your parents to get along, baby? Isn’t it enough that _we_ do?’ 

Steve sighs, all fond like. Disappears in the kitchen for a moment, leaving Billy wondering what _the fuck_ is going on. 

He comes back holding a piece of paper. Passes it to Billy, looking triumphant as all hell. 

It's - the lease. For their apartment. Just a piece of paper full of letters and words and legal terms. 

When Billy looks up, he finds Steve looking right back, waiting for Billy to - _get it_. 

Billy doesn't. 

Steve sighs, _again_. Takes the paper back, shows it to Billy, points at something in the middle of the page. A word. _Indefinitely_. 

Billy - still doesn't get it. 

Steve rolls his eyes. Says, ‘C’mon, asshole, I know you know what that means.’ 

Billy furrows his brows, shakes his head just a bit. 

Steve huffs a breath, traces his fingers across Billy's hairline. ‘This is _our_ place, Hargrove. Leased _indefinitely_.’ He kisses the scar on Billy's right eyebrow. ‘I can't have my parents _hate_ the man I l- ’ He stops, takes a breath. ‘The man I _live_ with.’ Another kiss. ‘_Indefinitely_.’ 

And like. Oh. ‘Oh,’ Billy says. 

Steve exhales a laugh. ‘Yeah, dumbass. _Oh_.’ 

Billy looks at the ceiling, the piece of paper, Steve's face. Scoffs. Resigns himself to the fact that next Sunday will be unavoidably lost too. Nuzzles his nose against Steve's. 

‘How does your mom feel about shepherd’s pie, Stevie?’ 

**Author's Note:**

> my google docs were screaming at me to finish at least one of my, like, six wips and i was like 'nah, bitch, how 'bout a fluffy one shot instead?'
> 
> come find me on [tumblr](https://aspartaeme.tumblr.com/)


End file.
